At the Public’s Option
News Type:
News Article
July 23, 2010
Issue Areas:
Insurance In his July 22, 2010 letter to Congressman Fortney “Pete” Stark, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) Director Douglas Elmendorf estimated that the Congressman’s recent proposal for a “public option”, which would be offered in the health insurance exchanges, would save $53 billion by 2019 and an additional $68 billion by 2020. The public option would be funded solely with collected premiums and while physician reimbursement rates would initially be set to Medicare rates, the plans would not be subject to the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula and its resulting rate reductions. Instead, the reimbursement rates would increase annually to reflect estimated increases in costs, though it is unclear what these increases would be.
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